Politicians often come up with numbered plans. There's never just a one-point plan: it's always three points, or five points, or ten points. And there's a good reason for this: numbering helps make complex ideas cohere in an audience's mind.

It also reminds people what a leader promises to accomplish…sort of like a grocery list reminds you what to buy. (Swedish fish, Redbull, and Hot Pockets. Don't judge.)

Wilson's Fourteen Points were the result of the Inquiry's recommendations. The ideas varied from the general (no more secret treaties or alliances!) to the specific (give Alsace-Lorraine back to France, dagnabbit!). Distilling them into the list format signaled to the world that these were concrete and achievable goals, not idealistic pipedreams.

That didn't change the fact that presenting fourteen points is easier than agreeing to them. France and Britain, when they received Wilson's speech, were cautious about his optimism.

When Georges Clemenceau of France heard about Wilson's Fourteen Points, he reportedly quipped:

[…] the Lord gave us Ten Commandments, and we broke them. Wilson gave us Fourteen Points. We shall see. (Source)

And we saw, all right. We saw WWII break out.